Kacey Musgraves sings country into a new direction

She'll open for Kenny Chesney at Miller Park

Kacey Musgraves released her latest album “Same Trailer Different Park” in March and is singing about topics that often have gone untouched in the country industry. Musgraves made a name for herself on USA Network’s “Nashville Star” in 2007.

Country music is arguably more mainstream and popular than ever before, with more good ol' boys packing arenas, sweet and feisty gals embracing pop and digital album sales for the genre skyrocketing by 38% in 2012, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

So is the time really right for a change? Whether mainstream country fans are ready or not, Kacey Musgraves is bringing it to them — with some help from the king of the country A-list, Kenny Chesney.

"If you save yourself for marriage you're a bore," are the first lyrics to cross Musgraves' lips. On the chorus, Musgraves gets edgier.

"Make lots of noise, kiss lots of boys, or kiss lots of girls if that's something you're into," she sings. You half expect the squeal of a record scratch to stop the song in its tracks.

Fair or not, country music stations and fans are by and large considered deeply conservative. So for an up-and-coming artist to advocate for same-sex make-out sessions, it's particularly brazen.

But as Musgraves said in a phone interview, "People are ready for different (expletive), you know what I mean?...If anything, the gay community needs a little bit of love, especially from country music." Musgraves' "Arrow" co-writers, Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark, are gay.

"There's always going to be conservative ideas attached to country," Musgraves continued. "There's enough of the new wave, young, forward-thinking people who are all accepting and open-minded. They're online and loud about what they like, and they'll push out the old ideas. It happened with Loretta Lynn singing 'Mama's got the pill' and 'don't come home a-drinking with loving on your mind.' It doesn't seem forward-thinking now, but back then it was."

Pushing the envelope

It's far too soon to begin fathoming the notion of Musgraves as the modern-day Loretta Lynn, but her candid lyrics and accessible, down-to-earth musical style differ from much of the mainstream country norm.

What may be most telling is the fact that she had a brush with fame back in 2007, placing seventh on USA Network's country singing competition, "Nashville Star." She tried to capitalize on her newfound exposure with an independently released self-titled album a couple months after being eliminated, but instead of pushing for fame in subsequent years, she retreated for the good of her talent.

"I didn't just want to be a country artist per se, I wanted to make great music," she said. "I wrote and I wrote and I wrote, and I really developed a sense of what I wanted to say and who I was musically...

"It was about finding a unique way to say things that have already been said a million times, and at the same time, writing lyrics that felt like they were really from me and not just being said to get on the radio. Once I felt confident in that and had two producers, Shane McAnally and Luke Laird, in place, I went around to some labels."

She lucked out in finding, in the Mercury Nashville label, the freedom to challenge audiences even as she attempted to establish one for herself.

But Musgraves may be right about country fans being ready for different, well, stuff.

A recent study by research company Arbitron suggests that country radio's share of 18- to 24-year-old listeners has leapt by 41% over the past two years, and with new blood comes a demand for new approaches — something Chesney, one of music's savviest marketers, recognized when recruiting Musgraves.

Staying true to herself

"The label will always have opinions, but they want me to be who I want to be," Musgraves said. "If you try to water down your material to appeal to some mass group and get crazier with your subject matter, people think you're a poser.

"I feel like I should put crazy ideas out there first. If anything, maybe it will help me stand out. Not everybody is going to like it, but people are going to talk about it, and that's half the battle."

Even if Musgraves loses the battle to change minds and become a country singing star, she said she won't lose her passion for what she loves.

"At the end of the day, I'm a songwriter," she said. "If the artist thing goes away tomorrow, that's OK. I'll be sitting my ass on the couch writing songs that I love and getting a paycheck. Everything else is icing on the cake."